MBB: Duke 73, Albany 61 (NCAA R64) Post-Game Thread

[hurleyfor3]

What, we don't have one of these yet? We do now.

[1 24 90]

Thank you. I was wondering where it was. Good games from Seth & Mason. Albany shot the 3 well to stay in the game. My opinion is that I would much rather face Cincinnati because it seems that a lot of teams are having trouble scoring and I would rather face a team with a bad offense and a good defense than vice versa.

[azzefkram]

Odd win, but a win still. On to Sunday.

[Phoenix22]

Good win against a team shooting 9/15 on 3s. I did get a little nervous when they cut it to single digits, but we executed well down the stretch and kept composure. Seth Curry was just smooth. Lets hope Kelly gets his shot back...

The negativity in the in-game thread was very disappointing.

Survive and Advance!

[OldPhiKap]

Survive, advance. On to Sunday!

[hurleyfor3]

Albany played the way a 15-seed needs to play to have a chance to win. Dial back a few threes, a few FTs (they shot 14-16) and a couple stupid Duke fouls and TOs and it's a 20+ point victory.

[KandG]

Great game from Seth and Mason. Defense overall was better than it has been recently, though still far from great.

I still don't feel great about Sunday. Keeping an inferior team in the game and Ryan and Quinn missing all their threes will do that. But kudos to the team for coming out with the effort and passion needed to win the first game. Albany was feisty and never gave in. Duke responded in a composed manner and put it away.

[NashvilleDevil]

I'm sure there was nerves today after last year. Even with the nerves I think Duke had this game in control throughout, despite what some of the more ridiculous posts in the in game thread said. On non-3 pointers Albany was 10/37. They hit some ridiculous 3s and that kept them in it. Duke also got whistled for some cheap fouls. I'm still confident this team gets out of the weekend and with this win can play loose Sunday and dispatch UC or Creighton.

[drcharl]

The 14-16 from the foul line also kept them in the game.

[hudlow]

Honestly glad not to see Duke win in a blowout today. I don't believe it would have been good for the team. Duke needs to realize they are not invincible...and play with a chip on their shoulder from here on out..

[_Gary]

Albany's head coach just goes with a cheap shot on Mason's hooks, a couple of Quinn's shots, and the bank 3 that Curry hit. Basically calling us lucky, I guess. No class.

[wsb3]

And Albany 14-16 from the line.. When we were up by 8 and missed ..and subsequently Curry got a layup.. That was to me the biggest play of the game.

[DukieInBrasil]

Happy that Mason and Seth showed up for this one. Quinn finally displayed that nifty passing touch many here have been hankering for. However, if they play like this in the next game, they'll be going home. Seemed like Mason was getting pushed a lot when he was making moves to the basket, but the refs refused to call pushes, still, Mason had a fantastic game.
After his phenomenal return to game action vs Miami, Kelly has shot 2-15 from 3. Sulaimon was also somewhat absent.
I still don't understand why Hairston gets all the PT at back-up PF. 2 rebs and no points against a team he should have been able to do well against. Getting stuffed when receiving the ball next to the rim on a great pass from Plumlee with an unobstructed path to the rim kinda sums it up for Josh.
Survived and advanced. All in all, good (enough) job guys.

[UrinalCake]

At this point in the season all that matters is that we win the game, so I'm not worrying about what our margin was or how we looked or what this means moving forward. Our team can play terribly one game and great the next and vice versa.

Nice to see us exploit our advantage inside and not shoot too many threes. Time for the team to get rested and prepare for the next one.

[wsb3]

Albany's head coach just goes with a cheap shot on Mason's hooks, a couple of Quinn's shots, and the bank 3 that Curry hit. Basically calling us lucky, I guess. No class.

I thought Mason got shoved out on a couple of those hook shots and should have been and one.

[NashvilleDevil]

The 14-16 from the foul line also kept them in the game.

Felt like every time Duke was about to start a run they'd get a foul call and Albany was able to score free points illustrating your point.

[pfrduke]

Albany's head coach just goes with a cheap shot on Mason's hooks, a couple of Quinn's shots, and the bank 3 that Curry hit. Basically calling us lucky, I guess. No class.

Why is this classless? He thought his team was in the game and with a couple of (additional) bounces in their favor its a different game.
Coaches say that kind of stuff all the time.

[nyesq83]

After a portion of the 1st half where Ryan didn't seem to have game-speed, he began playing aggressive, smart, scrappy recovery- and disruptive- D, especially in the last minutes.

Albany shot the lights out. They played great against us, but our guys didn't quit either.

After a shaky start, Plumlee made some really nice hook moves, and alley oops sure help a dude's confidence.

Cook was solidly excellent distributing while not shooting as well as he can.

All the role players were effective.

Curry was nearly unstoppable.

My complaints: containment along the baseline - too many easy baskets where our guys didn't seal it off; excessive double and triple teaming on D and losing assignments on scramble plays and 50-50 loose ball plays - our guys seemed a little tight/mired in mud until the second half.

Reggie said we were good but not great. We all can agree on that.

Len: (hints that we fouled) "two Albany guys who were knocked to the floor, and Seth Curry scored, and that was the turning point."

All in all, a good game but a great team-win.

[DukieInBrasil]

Honestly glad not to see Duke win in a blowout today. I don't believe it would have been good for the team. Duke needs to realize they are not invincible...and play with a chip on their shoulder from here on out..

This team hasn't done that all year, and has shown no indications that it can play that way. They can play composed and execute well, and when they do they are a very tough team to beat. However, this team doesn't play mean or withe proverbial "chip on its shoulder". I guess i agree that it was good to not win in a blowout.

[Bob Green]

After a portion of the 1st half where Ryan didn't seem to have game-speed...

Kelly looks sick, literally not a sarcastic comment, like he has the flu or mono or something. Overall, a solid R64 win. I would've preferred better balanced scoring, but you take what you can get. Props to Albany for not folding. On to Sunday, it is all about surviving and advancing.